• Municipal Fish Market Pier Reconstruction - Washington DC
    In 1937, the District of Columbia government contracted with the Fred Drew Co. to reconstruct the Municipal Fish Market Pier (also called Pier No. 1). The cost of the project was $20,000 (about $366,000 in 2020 dollars) and funds were provided via the District of Columbia Appropriation Act for 1937, signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt on June 23, 1936. The project was part of a broad New Deal initiative to modernize and beautify the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront areas. Work started on April 19, 1937 and was completed three months later, on July 13. The DC Government noted: “The...
  • Mount Vernon Memorial Highway and George Washington Memorial Parkway - Alexandria VA
    Today, the stretch called Mount Vernon Memorial Highway is located mainly in Alexandria, VA, but connects there to the stretch now called the George Washington Memorial Parkway which runs along the Potomac River mainly on the Virginia side. Though the first section connecting the Arlington Memorial Bridge to Mount Vernon was completed before the commencement of the New Deal, New Deal programs worked on both the Mount Vernon and the George Washington stretches of the road as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program assisted by the PWA, WPA and CCC. New Deal work on and around the parkway included...
  • Freedmen's Hospital (former) Additions and Repairs - Washington DC
    In 1938, the Washington Post reported that the Public Works Administration (PWA) had funds to build a new tuberculosis unit with 150 additional beds at the Freedman's Hospital site. The same year, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) also did repairs at the former Freedman's Hospital in Washington DC.  WPA project cards in the National Archives state that the work to be done was to, "Clean and renovate Freedmen's Hospital buildings, including cleaning windows, washing walls, floors, woodwork, furnishings and small equipment". Freedmen's Hospital was established in 1862 to serve the thousands of African Americans who came to Washington during the Civil War, seeking their...
  • Carnegie Library Building (former) Renovation - Washington D.C.
    The Carnegie Library building in Washington DC was the District's Central Library from 1902 to 1970. It was one of many libraries built with funding from the businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.  From 1935 to 1938, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) refurbished the entire exterior of the building for the Library. As reported by the DC Government in 1938: "The W.P.A. project for cleaning, cutting out, and repointing mortar joints of exterior marble and granite stone on the central building was started in December 1935 and completed at a cost of $27,717.50 and closed out on March 20, 1938. The entire exterior...
  • Washington Aqueduct Repairs - Washington DC
    According to the National Archive's index of Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects, WPA crews performed maintenance and repair work on the two giant water conduits of the Washington Aqueduct. The Washington Aqueduct brings water to the city from the Potomac River at Great Falls. It runs under MacArthur Boulevard (formerly known as Conduit Road) and over Cabin John Creek inside the Union Arch Bridge.  Water arrives at the district's Dalecarlia and McMillan Reservoirs, where it is settled and stored, then treated and distributed by the DC Water and Sewer Authority. The aqueduct is operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The exact location...
  • National Institutes of Health Campus - Bethesda MD
    The modern campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) was established at Bethesda MD during the New Deal.  It included the first laboratory of the newly-created National Cancer Institute, as well (the NCI came under the NIH in 1944). The NIH is the leading medical science agency of the United States, performing its own research and funding research at universities and hospitals around the country. The NIH was launched in 1930 as a reorganization and enhancement of government-funded medical research efforts that date back to 1887. NIH’s original location (1930-1938) was at 25th and E streets NW, Washington DC.   In...
  • Camp Simms (demolished) Improvements - Washington DC
    The former Camp Simms in the city's southeastern quadrant housed the DC National Guard rifle range prior to World War II.  In 1936, Work: A Journal of Progress reported extensive Works Progress Administration (WPA) improvements to Camp Simms: "Transformation of the National Guard Rifle Range at Camp Sims, from an ill-equipped, obsolete military adjunct into a model rifle range, is one of the many accomplishments of relief labor under the Works Progress Administration in the District of Columbia. One of the first tasks undertaken by WPA labor at Camp Sims was that of raising the level of practically the whole site. Coincident...
  • Post Office - Inglewood CA
    The Post Office in Inglewood CA was constructed by the Treasury Department in 1935. It was needed because of damage to the previous post office in the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 and cost $210,000 (Gnerre 2022) The design of this two-story building is Classical Moderne, with clean, square lines, flat roof tall window openings and a stucco finish. There are lovely bas-relief sculptures over the recessed front entrance and in the front window openings between stories.  There is a carved wooden mural inside. (see linked pages) New Deal era post offices were all built by the Treasury Department, never by the Works...
  • Takoma Recreation Center Development - Washington DC
    Takoma Recreation Center is a large public recreational facility in Washington D.C., containing buildings, swimming pool, tennis courts and other facilities. New Deal agencies did extensive work on the site, 1933-36, as part of a larger Capital Parks improvement program assisted by the Civil Work Adminstration (CWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The WPA alone undertook a million dollar program of improvements to district parks in 1935-36. The work at Takoma Recreation Center included: "Swimming pools and field house constructed; baseball diamonds, athletic fields graded and equipment installed; landscaping and lawn area at field house constructed; parking areas...
  • Sligo Creek Parkway Improvements - Silver Spring MD
    Sligo Creek Parkway is a landscaped, two-lane roadway in Montgomery County MD that runs parallel to Sligo Creek and the Sligo Creek Trail.  It begins at Maryland Route 650 in Takoma Park, travels through Silver Spring, and ends further north at MD 193.  The Works Progress Administration (WPA) did extensive work on the parkway in 1935-36, including: "building drains along existing concrete roads, ditch digging, laying storm drains, creek cribbing, footbridges, masonry headwalls; clearing, grubbing and seeding park land; building a running track, foot paths, playground equipment, drinking fountains, and shelters."   (Maryland Historical Trust)